Muscat – The Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED), in collaboration with a group of entrepreneurs, organised a dialogue session on Wednesday on the prospects of financing and its challenges for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Oman.

The entrepreneurs, who joined ASMED for the inaugural session of the dialogue on ‘Prospects for Financing Small and Medium Enterprises’, are already benefiting from various financing programmes and hence have their individual experiences to share with the participants.

The discussion focused on improving the efficiency of financing procedures and expediting the approval process. The goal of streamlining these processes is to reduce waiting times for entrepreneurs and enhance their access to timely financing.

The session also aimed to develop flexible financing mechanisms tailored to meet the varying needs of entrepreneurs at different growth stages.

Transparency and clarity in financing conditions were emphasised during the session, so that clear mechanisms could be developed to help entrepreneurs better understand the requirements for obtaining finances.

The session included four key areas of discussion: The pre-finance stage, the application process, the disbursement phase, and the post-financing stage, including project sustainability.

Participants identified the challenges and proposed solutions to enhance the financing service, while agreeing to initiatives and future steps for development.

Halima bint Rashid al Zaria, Chairperson of ASMED, highlighted the authority’s ongoing commitment to the Entrepreneur Readiness Programme, designed to equip entrepreneurs with essential administrative and financial skills.

She spoke on the importance of Musanda or the ‘Support’ programme that focuses on monitoring funded projects for their effective expansion.

The authority plans to automate many procedures, particularly the loan financing, to reduce human interventions.